Sunday, August 03, 2008

Is this image offensive?

"the site of a protest by a group requesting that a 'sexually explicit' picture in front of Abercrombie & Fitch be put inside the store.

"The group calling themselves 'Move The Picture' (hosted a quiet protest) outside the mall (this week.)

"The group is protesting a large 10 foot by 10 foot photo that has been put in front of the Abercrombie and Fitch store at the mall. The photo is of a young man's body with his pants pulled down below his waist with a shadow strategically placed in his groin area."

From the group's website:

I am writing to you with great concern and a heavy heart for my children and for other children in my community. This past Sunday, I was in TriangleTownCenter with my wife and my four children, ages 11 months to 7 years of age. ... On the way to the play area in the mall, we were accosted by a huge sexually explicit picture in the entrance of Abercrombie and Fitch. With the blinds drawn in the other windows of the store, the only thing you could see was a 10 foot by 10 foot picture of a man pulling down his pants. In fact, the man's pubic hair must have been shaved or airbrushed out to get the pants this low. It is clear that Abercrombie wants your eye to be drawn to this picture. It is also clear from the picture that they would have a tough time making the case that it was clothes they were selling with this picture. ... I couldn't believe that as an unsuspecting patron of the mall, my kids had a picture pushed on them that I would never let them look at through any other form of media. I cannot begin to tell you all the emotions that I was feeling - utter shock, disgust, and anger to name a few.

Here is the image as seen from the outside of the store.

On the surface, I can sympathize with the group in that they don't want to ban the image outright, but rather to move the image inside the store so as to limit the exposure to those actually entering the store.

But I ask you, is the image they challenge any more offensive than the Victoria's Secret storefront display below? And if so, how so?